Be warned that this post contains some descriptions, they're not really spoilers, but the trailer was so well done it didn't say anything, though you should be aware that it's about aliens, and there isn't anything here you won't read elsewhere. If you're avoiding anything about a movie you're determined to see without knowing anything about it, then don't read.
Do you know how WB adjusts their logo to fit with the movie's style, etc, well when the trailers were over and Dreamcatcher was to begin, I see this altered WB intro and think that this green version and the music feels familiar, then I realized it's the Matrix WB intro! For half a second I thought, was it the wrong reel, but then I remembered that one of the Animatrix shorts was to be attached to the beggining of Dreamcatcher in theaters! I immediately got excited. This episode is completely in CGI, the kind Pixar and others with their Toy, Bug, Ice, and Monsters only wish they had, it is the Square USA's Final Fantasy style animation, perfected even further, looking very realistic.
It opens inside a simulator with an Asian woman and a black man, blindfolded, fighting with katanas, for 3 or 4 mins, at least it seemed that long, gradually cutting and ripping each other's clothes off, looking all sexy. :dork: Then the sentinels, I think they're called unless I'm confusing them, those flying things with metal tentacles attack, and after a shootout and escape they see something really cool that I won't spoil, it all ends on a sad note as the title suggests, really awesome animation and story written by the Wachowski brothers.
Then another altered WB logo shows up, this one with snow, and Dreamcatcher finaly starts. Only I couldn't get into it after such an episode, it practically almost killed the movie that follows it. Maybe it's just me, I don't like watching one thing right after another.
The first part of the movie is very suspensful, then it turns into a Half Life situation in the woods. Let me just say that the trailer for it was very well done, I saw the first version of it about half a year ago and immediately wanted to see the film. I loved those foreshadowing serious voice over powerful imagery, beautifuly edited, and that guy standing, bloody bath behind, trembling, looking at something, saying "What do you want?". It also didn't show anything. The movie delivers on some of the things that flashed through the trailer, on others it doesn't.
Laurence Kasdan I think said in an interview that he doesn't believe that what you don't see is scarier and that you'll see aliens and monsters in this one, that it's a real creature feature. And we do. Once we do however, the film kind steps into a different gear.
The story jumps back and forth between differen time and storylines and themes that it makes sure it loses majority of general audience by time first 20 mins are over. Then those like me that stayed with the movie are not rewarded.
Ever since the first scene, everyone is either weird, or crazy, or both. There are a lot of strangely funny and kind of over the top scenes, only they're not, they fall somewhere in between without satisfying either kind of audience.
Ok, so you got your Half Life thing going, you show us all and every alien and monster every time, now we want to see them blown away! You got a whole special army unit that deals with these aliens for 25 years, you got a quarantine zone, yet there is no action. This movie doesn't know what it is, and what it's trying to be. Is it a character driven telepath drama? Is it an alien invasion army quarantine crisis? Is it a creature feature actioner? It tries to handle everything without succeeding in any of the genres. It's not an action movie. It's not gory. It's not overly dramatic, it's not scary except for a few creepy scenes.
If you're making an R rated flipped out, strange crazy alien body snatchers feature creature that come out of farting and burping asses, then you're making it for a niche audience. So give us what we want! Where is the gore? Where are bleeping aliens getting blown away? Well, there is one nice annihilation scene with a rather sad undertone that I liked, but it's very brief and CGI is not that good. Where is genocide in a quarantine camp? If you're gona set up a 25 year hunting partialy crazy but with good intentions army leader and a nazi-style camp full of infected people, then execute some, show us some innocent people get killed, give the movie a serious tone and some balls for chrissakes! It has so much potential and the boundaries of every genre tackled here, as well as the borders of what can be in an R picture are so far away you could do so much, yet nothing is done.
I'm not saying I know anything about filmmaking but if I was on the set and had some influence, I'd have made this movie a whole lot better just by talking to the producer.
I'm dissapointed as you can see but I've hyped myself up too much, assuming this'll be one of the best movies of 2003, and it is so far out of the 12 weeks, almost everything else released these first months is so crappy.
If you're curious, go see it, because it's a fun, off-beat thriller that has some very well executed scenes and it had me glued throughout and almost biting my nails.
Top 10 of 2003 so far:[list=1][*]Dark Blue[*]?[*]?[*]?[*]Laurel Canyon[*]?[*]Dreamcatcher[*]Tears of the Sun[*]The Hunted[*]Cradle 2 the Grave[/list=1]
Movies avoided this week and therefore consider to be crappy:
Agent Cody Banks
Boat Trip (Poor Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr.)
Piglet's Big Movie (more like Piglet's Shortest Ass Cashin at 75mins)
View from the Top (Might check out on DVD)
